Jimmy James is perhaps the last of a kind—the musical voice impressionist. Sure, there are plenty of comic impressionists following in the line of Rich Little and George Kirby, but the lineage of masters Charles Pierce, Charles Busch and Frank Marino may be dwindling to a select few. James has tried to remain true to his art in the era of lip-synching female impersonators, concentrating on the voice, less on the physical appearance of his repertoire of famous divas.

James has an excellent, powerful voice and his spoken impressions are spot on. His musical numbers are quite remarkable, even when he temporarily shape-shifts back to his own voice mid song. His Liza Minnelli (“Maybe This Time”), Stevie Nicks (“Gypsy”) and Eartha Kitt (“I Want to Be Evil”) are fantastic, his Billie Holiday and Patsy Cline less so, but still very entertaining. Bette Davis arrives to sing “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” then goes on a roll of acid-tongued quotes (“My mother taught me always to speak nice of the dead. Joan Crawford’s dead. How nice.”) Cher singing “Walking in Memphis” was amazing, but James takes it one step further by having her sing “Memory” from Cats. It’s a hoot and the vocal is astoundingly like Cher.

James loves his divas, but hits a homerun as Elvis, the King, singing “Don’t Be Cruel.” It took James nearly three decades to present his first full show in San Francisco, and he hopes to return with his full multi-media show in the future. He’s certainly capable of sustaining this art form for years to come.

Steve Murray
Cabaret Scenes
July 31, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org